A new apartment has a door the landlord insists has always been painted shut.
18 Horror Writing Prompts Prompts
These prompts create a starting constraint, question, or situation. Use one as written, combine two, or change the audience, setting, objective, or limitation to make a new exercise.
Every person in a village dreams the same room, but one newcomer sees an extra window.
A smart speaker begins answering questions several seconds before they are asked.
An archivist finds today’s newspaper stored in a box sealed thirty years ago.
A family tradition requires everyone to leave one chair empty, and nobody will explain why.
A night security guard notices that the mannequins are always facing the nearest exit at dawn.
A commuter hears station announcements naming memories instead of stops.
A doctor treats a patient whose medical scan contains a handwritten message.
A school removes one student from every class photo, but classmates still remember them.
A storm knocks out power everywhere except a house that has been abandoned for decades.
A tourist town closes every mirror before sunset during one week of the year.
A voice on an old answering machine starts describing events that have not happened yet.
A basement flood reveals stairs continuing downward beneath the foundation.
A gardener discovers that one plant grows only after someone in the house tells a lie.
A child returns from camp with perfect memories of a cabin that staff say was demolished years ago.
A neighborhood group chat gains messages from an address at the center of an empty lot.
A lighthouse keeper sees a second lighthouse blinking from the open sea.
A repair technician finds human fingerprints inside a device that has never been opened.